Press foe



. 2 SheetsSheet 1. W. 0. DAVIS.

GLASS PRESS. PatehtedJan. 31, 1854.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.1 W.-O. DAVIS.

GLASS PRESS.

No. 10,470. Patented-Ja n. 81,1854.

THE Nonms PETERS co. FHOTO-LITHOHWASNINGYON, o. c.

UNITED W. o. DAVIS, or PrrrsBUR-er PENNSYLVANIA.

PRESS FOR MOLDING? GLASS.

Specification of Letters'I Patent No. 10,470, dated January-31, 1854.

and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, forming part of this specification, wherein- Figure l, is a perspective view of my improved press. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of my press with the, lever pressed down. Fig. 3 is a similar view of my press with the lever raised, the several parts of the press being marked on the drawings with letters of reference, similar letters being used for: like parts in the several figures.

My invention consists in a combination of a lever and toggle joint with a rocking shaft, swinging beam and connecting rods, in such. a manner as that the pressure is always central and vertical, the parts being so arranged that little or no pressure or strain is sustained by the frame work of ,ture ofglas s are so greatthat alarge per the press, the whole pressure being sustained by the swinging beam, rocking shaft and the rods which connect them;

In the manufacture of pressed glass, it is very important that the plunger, which en'- ters the mold in which the glass is pressed, should enter the mold exactly vertically or parallel. to the axis of the mold and that the downward motion of the plunger should be exactly vertical, because the slightest inclination of the plunger from the vertical position will cause an inequality in the thickness of the article pressed, which will of course produce an inferior article, In the pressing of tumblers, for instance, if the top of the plunger inclines but of an inch from a truly vertical position it will make one side of the edge of the tumbler when pressed of an inch thicker than the other, which would render the tumbler unfit for use and even a much slighter varii attained by; my improved press andflgenation. would produce an unsalable article.

In lever presses of an ordinary construction, when the fulcrum is placed to one side of the extremity of the lever to which the piston and plungersare attached, there is always more or less of a strain toward one side, tending to cause an inclination of the piston' i'od from a vertical position, and: the press, unless very strong and. unwieldly will yield slightly to this strain; and this variation, however slight; will, as" we have'seen,

be duplicated in the mold;- insomuoh. as

what is'taken off the glass on one sideof the: 'moldby the irregular: pressure is added to the other side. Should the guides through which the piston rod passes be strong;enough. to resist this side strain at first,j they will gradually wear away by the friction and the press soon become useless or require frequent adjustings, besidesthefriction willv prevent the press working as smoothly agit should, and will of course cause a; lossiof" ,power. Again, in lever presses of an ordli' gnary construction the. pressure is only in ione direction and unless the bed plate on @which the mold is placed is very strong-and ,firm it will yield somewhat to the'pressure, which will cause the mold'toinclinexto'onesid'e, producinga like result, the axis of'the :mold and plunger being no longer in the Zsame vertical line. These practical defects in presses ordinarily used in the manufac- Icentage of articles made with. such presses gm of an. inferior quality.. improved press isdesigned to obviate these difficulties, gfirst, by giving a Vertical pressure to the ;pi'ston rod which carries the plungeryseo 50nd, byv making an equal pressure from iabove and-below, so that the be'd-platexwill' not be liable, to spring, having only: the weight of the mold tosustain, and, thirdly, :by disconnecting the fulcrum of the lever ifrom the frame work of the press, the. only v point of" attachment of any part of the ma-g chinery by which thepressure is produced .being to the bed plate at a point imme= diatelyund'er the center of the mold. in the samevertical line as the axis ofthe piston Having thus" p di the object tobe art to make and use it.

In the several. drawings a is thebedplate of my press, made of polishediron and rod, the framework of the press serving ;only as a guide to keep the piston rod and; connecting rods in place.

from place to place.

large enough to serve as a table or bench to slide the mold on. This is supported by four legs 5, b, &c., to which are attached wheels to enable the press to be readily moved Attached to this bedplate is a slight arch, consisting of two uprights a, 0, and a cross piece cZ at top. These uprights 0, a, have each a groove in the outer edge, to receive the rods Z Z, which connect the rocking shaft 70 and swinging beam m.

Attached to the under side of the bed plate a at a point equidistant from the two uprights 0, 0, is a hollow cylindrical block a with a female screw cut in the inner surface of the cylinders to receive thescrew f, which is turned by the wheel 9, the screw working up and down inside of the cylindrical block 6. At the lower extremity of the screw f, is a ball it (see Fig. 3) which works in the socket 2', forming a ball and socket joint, the construction of which I need not more particularly describe. The socket i is in the center of the rocking shaft k, which extends across the press, immediately under the uprights a, 0. To either extremity of this rocking shaft is attached by a, pin the lower extremity of one of the connecting rods Z Z, which pass upward between the projecting guide pieces 0, 0, partially entering the grooves in the uprights c, 0. The upper extremity of these rods Z, Z, is attached by a hinge or pivot to the corresponding extremity of the swinging beamvmh' The swinging beam is made of two pieces, as in the drawing, or otherwise, as may be convenient, so asto inclose the toggle joint n, which works between the sides of the beam 112. The toggle joint n is attached bya pin or pivot to the swinging beam m at a point in the beam not equidistant from either end, but removed towone side of the center, a distance equal to about one half of the toggle joint or short arm of the bent lever.

The lower end of the toggle joint is attached by a pin or pivot to the headof the piston rod 7)., Attached to the toggle joint is the working lever g and at right angles to the lever or nearly so is a counterpoise r, to aid in throwingback the lever. To the end-of the piston rod is fixed the sliding frame 8, through which passes a screw 2,, which'is a continuation of the piston rod 10. The sliding frame 8, works up and down between the uprights c, c, the inner edges of which serve as guides or ways-which are planed true and smooth for the sliding frame 8 to work in. A plate of iron u of the shape shown in Fig. 1, with a circular hole in the center, large enough to allow of the passage of the plunger of the mold, which is attached to the extremity of the piston rod, slides between the sliding frame 8 and between the uprights 0, c. On this plate a are four uprights c 'u, &c., and on these upthrough the center of the upper plate u and the wheel :12, which works on the screw t, regulates the height of the bottom plate u, to adjust the press to any size of mold to be used, so that when the plate a rests on the top of the mold the plunger will be at the right height. A further adjustment of the height of the lower plate a, is attained by means of the wheel 9 working on the screw 7, by meansof' which the rocking shaft 70 and with it the sliding frame 8 (to which it is attached by the connecting rods, swinging beam, toggle joint, and piston rod) are raised or lowered. Y By means of these adjusting screws the height of the sliding frame 8 isso adjusted as that when the lever is brought so far down that the lower plate it rests on the top of the mold the remaining part of the descent of the lever will be suflicient to press the plunger to the requisite depth in the mold. When the lower plate to rests on the top of the mold, it can, of course, descend no farther, but by drawing the lever still farther down the sliding frame 8, (to which the plunger isattached,) with the upper plate. a, will descend still farther, compressing the spring w, w, &c. When the pressure is removed from the end. of the lever q, the springs will raisewthe plunger Now it is manifest from what I have stated that there is in my press very little or no strain on the uprights c, a, orcross piece cZ, but that the pressure is borne by the rocking shaft, swinging beam, and con necting rods. If the swinging beam did not move freely from one side to the other there would be, but any side strain on the piston rod as it passes through the cross piece CZ, is at once relieved by the swinging beam coming over until the center pin of the toggle joint is in the same vertical line as the axis of the piston rod, at which time the pressure is greatest; also that as the point of connection of the cylindrical block e,to which the rocking shaft is attached by the ball and socket joint, is immediately under the axis of the piston rod the bed plate is during the pressure pressed between the bottom of the mold and the cylindrical block 6, and suffers no strain whatever, and the nearer the parts arrive at the point of greatest pressure the more nearly is the pressure in a vertical line.

Having thus described by improved press,

What I claim as my invention and desire to gether Withthe mode of attaching them so secure by Letters Patent is as to relieve the bed plate and frame Work The combination of the rocking shaft, ef-the press of any strain. connecting rods swinging beam and toggle WM. 0. DAVIS. 5 joint lever or their mechanical equivalents Witnesses present:

as hereinbefore described for the purpose of A. S. NICHOLSON,

procuring a vertical pressure in presses, toa B. B. CAMPBELL. 

